Lessons Learned from Years with Equipment

When you search online for the best moisture gauges and sensors on the internet, you’ll find varying results from soil moisture sensors, to wood moisture sensors and humidity sensors. This article will increase your awareness and understanding on the different types of moisture gauges and sensors, its uses and benefits. We will learn the best features and product ratings available in the market today.

For soil moisture gauges and sensors, it primarily measure the soil’s volumetric water content by indirectly using other properties of soil like dielectric constant, electrical resistance, or neutrons interaction which are considered proxy for the soil’s moisture content. It is important to have a property and soil moisture calibration and this depends on the soil type, electric conductivity or temperature. Gardeners and farmers use portable instruments for measuring soil moisture content, and for remote sensing in agriculture and hydrology, the soil moisture affects reflected microwave radiation. Water potential can also be measured by soil water potential sensors and it includes tensiometers and gypsum blocks.

In order for you to know whether a wood is stable to use or not, it is important that you are knowledgeable of its moisture content. In measuring the moisture content of the wood, there are two types of sensors or meters available in the market today which are the pin and pinless moisture meters, wherein both types measure the effect of moisture on an electromagnetic field (pinless) or an electromagnetic current (pin). The benefits of having a pinless meter is it scans an entire wood board without putting holes on it, and this can be taken into the lumberyard for testing the wood before buying it. Pin meters take readings no matter what the wood size, shape and degree of roughness it has, requiring two pins making in contact with the wood. You can allow usage of remote probes or nails for pin meters or pin sensors, which can be driven at the center of a thick lumber for core wood moisture readings that cannot be reached by pinless meters.

Before buying your own moisture meter or moisture sensor, you need to take into consideration the pin length, moisture content range, minimum sample size, displays, and built in temperature correction and built-in species. The rule of the thumb is you need a longer pin length for thicker board or wood which is 1/4 of its thickness, and this applies for even moisture gradient where the surface is drier compared to its core. There are four types of displays which are analog, digital LCD, digital LED and LED.

Exercise your consumer rights and only buy from trusted and reliable dealers for the best moisture sensor or moisture meter in the market today.